Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
SALT LAKE CITY — Four men accused of taking turns sexually assaulting a 15-year-old girl in Midvale now face serious criminal charges that carry potential prison sentences.
Christian Nkunda-Makoma, 25, of West Valley City; Aime Byuma, 33, of West Valley City; Patrick Bigirmana, 26, of Midvale; and Juvidh Ndabereye, 22, of South Salt Lake, were each charged in 3rd District Court with aggravated kidnapping and aggravated sexual assault, both first-degree felonies. The four are also charged with three counts of forcible sexual abuse, a second-degree felony.
Police say a 15-year-old girl met Bigirmana on a dating app and after communicating for a few weeks, Bigirmana invited the girl to his place for a get-together he was having with friends. But the girl told police she became concerned when she got there because there wasn't a party happening, but rather it was just her and the four men in the apartment, according to charging documents.
The girl said the men then "commanded" her to drink several shots of alcohol, after which she felt weak. The men then took her into a bedroom, undressed her, and took turns assaulting her. the charges state.
"I was just lying there and I couldn't really move," the girl told police, according to the court documents.
The girl was forced to drink more alcohol and was sexually assaulted multiple times, the charges allege.
While the girl told the men she needed to use the bathroom, she activated the Life360 app on her phone, designed to share a person's location in case of an emergency, and contacted several friends, according to the charges. The girl then went back to the bedroom and passed out. She awoke to several police officers inside the apartment.
Police noted that the girl seemed impaired and they called for an ambulance.
While being transported to the hospital in an ambulance, the girl uttered to an officer, "They raped me" and, "I was too weak to push them off. I didn't want them to hurt me, so I just let them do it," the charging documents say.
Prosecutors have requested all four men be held in the Salt Lake County Jail without bail pending trial.
Byuma was also charged Friday with giving false information to a police officer, a class C misdemeanor.
